ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine women's cross country team will be looking to continue its trend of recent improvement when it opens the season Thursday at Manchester University's Hokum Karem.
The Thunder earned its best-ever finish in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association last season, tying for fourth-place. The team returns all but one scoring runner from last season. Trine will rely heavily on improvement from its returners to continue its climb up the conference standings and achieve success in nonconference meets.
Leading the returners is All-MIAA Second Team performer Kyla Binfet (West Yellowstone, Mont. / West Yellowstone). Last season's All-MIAA honor for Binfet was the first ever for a Thunder women's cross country runner.
Kelsey Ortiz (Swanton, Ohio / Anthony Wayne) is Trine's lone senior. Ortiz has performed at a level that has consistently placed her among the team's top three runners in every season of her collegiate career. Heather Richardson (Fort Wayne, Ind. / South Side) joins Ortiz and Binfet as the only upperclassmen on the roster.
Sophomores Lacie Piekarski (Spring Lake, Mich. / Spring Lake), Hannah Blystone (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) and Samantha Stensland (Fishers, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern) round out the roster. The trio showed promise as freshmen last season, with each runner scoring points in multiple meets. Stensland finished with the ninth-best time run by a freshman in the MIAA Championship.
Trine's placement in the MIAA will once again be determined by its performance in two races. The MIAA Jamboree (Sep. 24) counts one-third towards the league standings, with the conference championship race accounting for the remaining two-thirds.
The season opens Thursday at the Manchester University Hokum Karem. The race features pairs of runners running alternating miles as a tandem. Points are awarded based on the combined performance of each pair of runners.